![]() You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger apologist for the MachineGames reboot series (minus Youngblood but that is no hot take) than I, but the moment-to-moment gameplay in Return is stellar. If not for a couple of abrupt pace killers, Return might be the best Wolfenstein. Where MachineGames’ take is firmly rooted in the more mature (but also ridiculous) Diesel Punk Inglorious Basterds, I love how Return is right at home being part Where Eagles Dare and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It all works as long as you embrace the camp. One chapter you’ll be delving into a dungeon filled to the brim with reanimated Undead Warriors and the next you’re fighting Nazis in a (semi) realistic, grim battlefield layered with German crossfire. BJ is special forces soldier, with a dash of Indiana Jones as the game often dips in and out of supernatural forces entering and exiting the fold. Immersive menus mocked up as folders, crudely drawn on maps of Nazi bases, and target dossiers to complete the special forces fantasy. The presentation was from a time where menus and UI were less focused on instant readability and more about providing texture and aligning with the setting. None of the modern trappings of highly scripted setpieces, with all of the thrills. You backtrack around an area with the twist of completing specific objectives ala Quake 2, Goldeneye, or No One Lives Forever. The rest of the levels play out as free-flowing, mostly classically designed missions. The later entries in the series would perfect this aspect, sue me I love The New Colossus. They are harmless enough, but not all that interesting either. Return is light on cutscenes, for the most part keeping them mainly as briefing bookends to BJ’s missions or to illustrate the cartoonish evil of the Nazi officers. The recoil is rebalanced for more power, but it does not get in the way of being able to run and gun so long as you are stocked up on health. The Real Return to Castle Wolfenstein mod bumps up the options substantially, adding the essential trench shotgun that was only featured in the Xbox port and more. The arsenal in the core game is excellent, with firearms ranging from German SMGs and rifles, American classics, and zanier sci-fi weapons like the Tesla Gun (hard-earned). ![]() This game was released in the last pocket of time where it was acceptable for your protagonist to carry a fully kitted arsenal with heaps of guns, and imagining BJ Blazkowitcz as anything but a walking armory just will not do. The crackle of the MP40’s barrel as you sprint around corners blasting SS troops evokes such timeless imagery of the American GI films. ![]() As you escape captivity from the dungeons of Castle Wolfenstein, the titular fortress nestled somewhere in the mountains of Northern Germany, you are quickly dispatching Nazis without mercy. The spirit of early-Spielburgian adventure is palpable from the game’s opening moments.
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